Hi! I'm in a bit of a time crunch here; I basically need to write a *good* ~1500 word story in the next three days or so. I need to write it for a portfolio that I must submit for a creative writing course. As such, it should preferably show off a variety of literary styles/techniques. I have an overall idea of what I want to write but, as always, my idea is totally style over substance. What I had in mind was this: A first person narrator is assigned a very tedious boring job in a secluded region. There, he encounters countless large ugly idiosyncratic anthropomorphic animals who only speak to him in verse. Each animal speaks in a poetic style that reflects a certain time or literary movement - so some are more archaic than others. The narrator is obviously bewildered about what is happening but no one else thinks there is anything out of the ordinary - including his human employers etc. Actually I'm not even sure I want to make him bewildered; perhaps he should treat it like it's totally ordinary too. I want it to be a little like magic realism - sort of like a gruesome chapter of Through The Looking Glass pervaded by an unsettling Kafkaesque atmosphere. But I don't know what the conflict or point of the story should be. It seems like the animals should have some sort of united goal or grievance or moral that they share with the narrator. IDK, what do you think?
Why can't his conflict be his slow decent into madness? Maybe he's the only one who sees these creatures? Maybe, his mind is telling him it's breaking due to monotony and is gasping for air by releasing these hallucinations on him; he starts to draw these animals and write down their lyrics and as soon as he does everything gets better - but when he stops they come back. Or maybe, the conflict has nothing to do with the creatures. Make a generic conflict, man vs man - his boss is a prick, his wife is cheating on him ect ect, and these creatures are simply accessories to the environment - possibly helping him solve his dilemma through their verse.
This sounds very much like the TV show Wonderfalls. Not that that's a bad thing, just be careful you make it different enough not to alert the plagiarism software.
thecoopertempleclause I've never even heard of that TV show But wow, it is similar. Has every idea been done already?
Wow, that is similar lol. The award for obscure show knowledge goes to Thecoopertempleclause. @Simina - Your idea is still good, ideas are not copy written. For everything someone posts on here I could provide some sort of "done it before" comment. Simpsons Did It! Write your story, the way you want to write it. If you think of something better along the way, switch to that.
C.B Harrington, Good point. I think I'm going to go along the lines of the first idea you suggested. It's definitely going to end up being much darker than the TV show so I think it'll be alright.
Could it not be that the creatures are mere humans talking in normal tone, but he sees these humans in creature form and talking in verse. This could lend to the creatures being a visual representation of the humans personality and the verse chosen to reflect the way the people speak (more measured speakers using old verse - young gangsta style speakers using present day rap as an example). The story could then be that this helps him see more in people than others and this helps unravel some conflict...maybe some form of murder or simply to release a judgement on the family name that has tarnished it? IDK just thinking out loud
I know that Cogito ALWAYS says that a story concept means nothing, but, I have to say - This sounds like an amazing idea! It sounds like it has great potential.
